/ · 1894 Brewer’s · H · Hesychasts (pron. He-se-kasts)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The “Quietists” of the East in the fourteenth century. They placed perfection in contemplation. (Greek, hesuʹchia, quiet.) (See Gibbon, Roman Empire, lxiii.) Milton well expresses their belief in his Comus:—
“Till oft converse with heavenly habitants
Begin to cast a beam on the outward shape,
And turns it by degrees to the soul’s essence,
Till all be made immortal.” (470–474.)
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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